Starting with the Greek Megasthenes who noticed the Indians worshipping the Ganga in 302 B.C. and ending with the New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary who led a jet boat expedition up the river in 1977, travellers of different nationalities and religions have left absorbing accounts of life along the Ganga through the ages.

By the end of the 18th century, a number of accomplished British landscape artists also appeared on the scene and made charming sketches while sailing up and down the Ganga. Many of these drawings were subsequently worked up either into beautiful oil paintings and watercolours or into coloured aquantints, lithograps and engravings to illustrate their engrossing descriptions of the river scene.

Most of this material is being published here for the first time, encompassing the essence of the enchantment and excitement of the travellers of their passage along the Ganga through the centuries.